The Fifth Column and the First Forty-Nine Stories is an anthology of writings by Ernest Hemingway published by Scribner's on October 14, 1938.[1] It contains Hemingway's only full-length play, The Fifth Column, and 49 short stories.
The Fifth Column is set during the Spanish Civil War. Its main character, Philip Rawlings, is an American-born secret agent for the Second Spanish Republic. The play was poorly received upon publication and has been overshadowed by many of the short stories in the anthology.[2]
The play was slated for production in 1938, but setbacks with the Broadway producers delayed production.[3] In 1940, a version of the play was produced on Broadway by the Theater Guild. This production was heavily edited by Benjamin Glazer with significant revisions to the script.[4] Hemingway disliked these changes and attempted to have his name removed from the production.[3] This production ran for 87 performances. The play wasn't professionally produced with Hemingway's original script until 2008 when Mint Theater Company staged the play.[5][4]
^ abcd"Up in Michigan", "Out of Season" and "My Old Man" had already appeared in Hemingway's privately published debut collection "Three Stories and Ten Poems". While "Up in Michigan" had not been reprinted, the latter two were included in In Our Time and were therefore listed at nrs. 17&19.